Apprentices
by BeyondxBroken
Summary: they don't know how and why they got there. but they're making the most of it.
1. A New Beginning

**Hi, this is my first fanfic. Hope you guys can enjoy! Please comment and if there are any suggestions please feel free to tell me. Anyways, please read and comment!**

**Chapter One: A New Beginning**

"Mountains?" Rachelle asked her best friend, Amy.

"Ya, weird right? I mean, because we come from an urban area, this is pretty much unusual for us, right?" Amy answered, also staring at the magnificent view of those green mountains.

'_Wow, this place sure doesn't know the meaning of pollution!'_ Amy thought.

"So, where do we go now? From here, I mean."

"Actually, we are…" Amy started saying. "Okay fine, I admit, I don't know where the hell we are!"

"Ya you got that right! I mean, what are 2 teenagers gonna do, lost in a kind of peaceful village, where people look at us weirdly because of our clothes and completely unaware of exactly HOW we got here." Rachelle explained.

"Well, we could ask for directions…" Amy said slowly.

"Ya right, and we could say: 'Um, hello. Do you know by any chance, how to get to civilization?'" Rachelle said sarcastically.

"You're right. Next plan of survival: Go around the whole place and look for good, angelic people who actually notice that we're lost." Amy said really quickly.

"Okay, but that is IF we find those kind of people here." Rachelle said, agreeing to Amy's plan.

"I doubt it though…" Rachelle thought in her mind.

As they were walking through the whole village, they found markets, pet sellers and lots of farmers and fishermen carrying their products at their backs.

"Do you think they sell clothes here?" Rachelle asked.

"Ya sure they do. But then, how do you plan on paying for them?" Amy asked, eyeing a cat on one of the pet sellers.

"I always carry these on my pocket." Rachelle said, holding up money.

"You know, for emergencies." She added quickly.

"Uh-huh, but I still don't know if they accept these kinds." Amy said, getting one bill from Rachelle.

"Well then, do they have a money changer or something?" Rachelle asked, looking around for one.

"Rachelle, this-is-a-village." Amy said eyeing Rachelle.

"Well, duh. I know that by know. But who knows? I mean, they might have one here." Rachelle said.

"Okay, I give up." Amy said. "Go look for one for all I care."

Just then Rachelle stopped on her tracks.

"What?" Amy asked, looking at Rachelle.

But she still kept staring at Amy.

"Okay, fine, I DO care. Happy?" Amy said finally.

"I knew you'd care." Rachelle said smiling.

"Whatever. Can we just meet up somewhere so that each of us won't get lost?" Amy suggested.

"Okay, good idea. Look over there then." Rachelle said.

When Amy looked around, she saw a train station.

"Uh-huh, and you expect me to stand there like stupid while I wait for you? Which, may I add, will take you until sunset?" Amy asked.

"Yup, unless you want us to be separated, then." Rachelle said.

"Fine, I'll wait for you in that empty bench okay?" Amy asked, pointing to the bench near the ticket booth.

"Okay!" Rachelle said, already making a run for it.

"And I know that you won't just be looking for a money changer. You're gonna shop around for clothes too." Amy said to herself when Rachelle left her.

After for about one hour Amy couldn't take it anymore she kept on moving from left to right and side to side as everyone's eyes followed her every movement, she had placed her hand on the bench once again as a nice cold breeze went by her, as the hours went by less people passed by her, she looked at her watch and realized that 2 hours had passed since 3 o'clock she then placed her hand on her forehead and had realized that the 'blood stains' where still there

_**Flash Back**_

"Amy where are they?" Rachelle asked confused by the darkness

"I don't know?" Amy said trying to look around at the abandoned train station as they heard loud shouts from their dorm mates trying to get each other with the plastic guns filled with paint

"We're so going to get killed when the principle finds out that we snuck out of the dorm at midnight!" Amy said holding her shoulders just imagining what might happen to them when that happens

"It's okay I mean more than half of Junior High is here, if we get caught we won't be alone" Rachelle exclaimed

"Some how I don't fell any safer from what you said" Amy said trying to point out the details "First we could be suspended, second kicked out, third were going to be dead with tons of sermons from our parents back home, so choose your pick" Amy said as someone was about to hit her with a water balloon but luckily she had dodged it and hit the person with her plastic gun

"Fine then let's go" Rachelle said pouting "Kill joy!"

As they went through the abandoned train station they found other students trying to hit each other but they didn't mind them at all they just walked pass by them until they saw the platform of the train station

"Well what now?" Rachelle said pointing to the platform obviously seeing that it would be impossible to climb up that high

"There might be a ladder here some where, lets go there" Amy said pointing at the other side

"Fine" Rachelle said as she went with her friend

As they walked it became darker and darker by the second, until they finally hit something, they couldn't see anything so they placed their hands in front of them

"Eww!" Rachelle screamed

"What is this soggy thing?" Amy asked touching the texture as she got inside her bag looking for her cell phone

"Here this should shed light to the matter" Amy said

As they looked at the wall they saw a wide circle drawn around and another smaller circle drawn inside it with words they didn't understand, and inside the small circle they saw some weird shapes drawn at the top of each other, but the thing that had startled them the most was that it was all drawn with a red substance

"Blood?" Amy whispered she couldn't even move even if she ordered her legs to move she only stood there dumbfounded

"I-it looks like fresh blood……" Rachelle said looking around her, she wasn't as dumbfound as Amy but had wanted to know if someone had used the abandoned train station before or if some one was just pulling a prank on them, I mean they were surrounded by paint

'_But it doesn't look like paint, it doesn't smell like it' _Rachelle thought totally unaware that their dorm mates were screaming their lungs out

"TRAIN!" Everyone shouted but before Amy and Rachelle could even move, it ;too late

_**End of flash back**_

"But I'm sure that it was blood and I was sure that someone had pulled my arm" Amy had said to herself feeling the pain on her arm with the red mark on her hand, but the mark didn't look like an ordinary hand though

**A/N: The next Chapter is more about the involment of the Characters: Riza, Roy, Havoc, and in general all of the military personel **


	2. Alchemy

Chapter 2

Chapter 2: Alchemy.

A train suddenly appeared. Amy checked her watch. It was 7 in the evening. The sun was really starting to set now.

"I can't believe it. I knew it. I knew it!" She muttered to herself.

A shadow suddenly loomed behind her.

"Amy. Chill. I'm here." Rachelle laughed, gripping Amy's left shoulder.

"Perfect." Amy smiled. "Now what?"

"Maybe I should tell you what happened a while ago, take a seat." Rachelle smiled giddily, pointing to the bench Amy has been sitting on ever since that afternoon. Amy just groaned in disgust.

Amy sighed but didn't bother fighting against it. She was strangely tired from sitting under the scorching heat for about 2 hours straight.

"Okay, get this. The lady who sold me all these," She held up a bag of clothes. "Was completely fooled when I told her that a 20 bill could buy her a new cottage in this place. And she agreed to let me get anything I wanted in her shop if I would just give the bill to her."

Amy's mouth was just open from shock with what Rachelle just told her.

"You've got to be kidding me. Tell me you're kidding me?"

"I am not telling you that I'm kidding you because that's the truth." Rachelle laughed.

"We are so dead. I can't believe it. We are so dead." Amy kept pacing around and around the empty floor. No one except them was there. Even if the train was there.

"We are not." Rachelle said. "I'd bet she wouldn't even remember me tomorrow. I mean, I never even told her my name." She laughed.

"I'm letting that go, I guess all we should do right now is look for a place to stay." Amy sighed, helping Rachelle carry the bag.

"Where are we even going to start? I don't know where we should start."

"As I said," Amy sighed. "We are so dead."

"Maybe I can help?" Someone said from behind them. They suddenly spotted a tall, blonde guy, maybe a bit older than them and really handsome. His hair slightly covered his right eye but in a good way. He had a mischievous glint in his blue eyes though, Amy noticed. There was a younger boy behind him was completely awkward and silent just looking at them. His outfit was mostly green-colored. His blue eyes matched the older boy and Amy presumed that they were brothers.

"Huh?" Rachelle asked.

"Ya… Huh? I don't think I heard that well." Amy said, feeling as though someone just sent them a miracle from above.

He suddenly laughed and placed both of his hands in the pocket of his pants.

"I asked if you needed somewhere to stay, I'm offering." He held out his hand. "What do you say?"

"Uh, excuse me for a moment… Just a second…" Amy said, pulling Rachelle away with her to a side and spoke to her silently.

"What are you doing?" Rachelle asked laughing. "That guy is extremely cute and so is his brother," She smiled at them. The older boy smiled back.

"It's not the cute part, even if I completely agree with you on that," Amy looked back at them and back at Rachelle. "They're strangers. Do you think we should trust them?"

"I… guess? I mean, there's no where else we could head to…" She looked at Amy. "We can't let this chance get away from us if you don't want us to sleep on the streets tonight."

"Okay." Amy sighed and faced the two boys.

"Alright, we accept." She smiled. "I don't know how to thank you…"

"Don't worry about that," He said, waving his right hand. "Come on,"

He led them through a wide road. It was really obvious that it was a sort of rural area. It was kind of like the town they lived in. They were trailing behind the two boys. The taller one now was carrying the bag of clothes Rachelle got.

"He is… so…" Rachelle started sighing dreamily.

"Psh," Amy rolled her eyes while laughing at her crushing friend.

Rachelle suddenly stopped sighing dreamily about the boy when she looked at Amy.

"This kinda looks like Athens Way huh?" She said, referring to the street the live in before this all happened.

"Yea, sure does." Amy smiled. "I wonder what our families are doing right now… Maybe they're reporting our loss and blaming the stupid school."

"They should be!" Rachelle smiled. "I mean, someone was bound to know that we went missing after that train came our direction…"

"That really bugs me." Amy said in an almost whisper.

"Ya, me too," Rachelle suddenly looked up and made eye contact with a brown-haired boy about their age. He was just sitting in the steps of a cottage, looking at them probably since they were dressed funny. Wait, she knew that boy. He was…

"Josh?" Amy blinked twice to see if that was who she thought he was. He was her boyfriend. They were together since the 6th grade and he warned her not to go to with the other Junior High kids that night but obviously, she didn't listen.

"Josh!" She made her voice a bit louder. The boy just looked at them like they were stupid or something then looked around him. Seeing as though no one else was behind him, he pointed his finger to his chest.

"Me?" He mouthed. Amy nodded and stopped in her tracks. So did Rachelle.

He suddenly ran, opened the door to his house and slammed the door.

"What the—" Amy said.

"I could have sworn—" Rachelle laughed.

"Me too Rachelle, this place is getting weird." She tapped the younger boy's shoulder and he looked up at her with his big green eyes. You gotta admit. That was kind of cute.

"Hi there li'l guy, what's this town called?"

"This is Xenotime." He said with a smile.

"What the?" Rachelle murmured.

"So, what brought you girls out here to the city of gold?" The older one asked, looking at them.

"Uh…" Amy looked around, she saw several stalls full of jewelry. "Jewelry." She lied.

Rachelle played along. "Yea, we heard this place has the best jewelry in the world."

"Okay," He smiled. "Maybe we can go and tour you girls around the whole city tomorrow."

"That'd be great." Amy said absentmindedly.

They reached the top of a hill and ended up in the entrance of a huge mansion.

"This is the place I saw from afar a while ago…" Rachelle mumbled.

"Yea…" Amy sighed. "It's humungous."

"And white, like some sort of palace…"

"Who are you guys anyways?" Amy asked, wondering that ever since a while ago.

"Oh, how stupid of us," He laughed. "I'm Edward Elric, and this is my younger brother, Alphonse." The younger one suddenly looked at him in a bad way.

"Okay," Rachelle smiled. She didn't seem bothered by what Alphonse did. "I'm Rachelle Harrington and this is my best friend Amy Richards."

The guards quickly allowed them inside but before that, cast strange looks at the two girls, seeming as though they were going to harm them or something.

"His face looked funny," Amy whispered to Rachelle. Rachelle just laughed a bit.

They walked through a carpeted hallway. Each side filled with paintings unfamiliar to them and porcelains and vases that looked like they dated back centuries ago.

"Alright then, this will be your room," Edward smiled at them, opening a door at the end of the hallway.

"Two beds," Amy smiled.

"I assumed you wanted to stay together?" He said.

"Absolutely," Rachelle laughed, got the bag out of Edward's hands and dove right into the bed near the window.

"She loves it, don't worry," Amy reassured Edward because of the look on his face. "Thank you so much for your help." She bowed a bit, showing a bit of respect she had for this man.

"No problem. Don't even mention it. You two can stay here as long as you want." He smiled. "Breakfast's at 7." He started walking away along with his brother.

"Um… Where exactly…?"

"Down the stairs, to the left. You can't really miss it." The younger one said, obviously amused by her question. "Good night!"

"G'night," She smiled, finally closing the door and collapsing into the bed opposite Rachelle. "How long do you think we'll be here?" She kept her eyes at the ceiling. The room was dimly lit, the full moon up in the sky was their only light and only some of it came through the window in their room.

"I'm starting to miss my family." Rachelle sobbed silently, opening the window a bit making the midnight breeze come through. "I hope we can get out of here…"

"If it's only possible Rache," Amy closed her eyes. She wasn't freezing from the wind that was coming in. She was just thinking. Thinking about what would happen to her and Rachelle. Thinking of what exactly they should be doing in this place.

"If only it's possible," Rachelle repeated after Amy.

That were the last words that they said to each other, followed by complete silence. The only sound they heard was the howling of the wind outside.

The sun was shining from the window. Rachelle was a light sleeper and the mere touch of light on her delicate face made her sit up her bed and look at Amy through half-opened eyes.

"Amy?" She asked groggily.

"Yea," She heard a voice coming from the restroom. There was water pouring out and assumed that Amy was probably taking a shower. She smelled herself. Hm. She needed one too. Badly.

"I was just finishing up, what's up?" She said, wiping her dripping hair with a towel she probably found inside. She was fully clothed, but Rachelle knew that it was not from her closet. She must have rummaged through the pile of clothes sitting on the floor next to Amy's bed and found something she liked. They really should organize that later.

"Ah, nothing," Rachelle said, flopping back on the bed like she wants nothing else to do but sleep for that day.

"You better get up Rache," Amy laughed, sitting on her bed. "It's 6:30 in the morning already."

Rachelle covered her face with the blanket. "I don't want to get up."

Amy sighed and stood up at the end of Rachelle's bed. "I'm pulling."

"No."

"Get up," She said, pulling the blanket away from Rachelle. She got it from Rachelle but she was still curled up like a ball in bed. Rachelle was wide awake. She could see that.

She bent down and whispered in Rachelle's right ear. "Edward's downstairs," She grinned.

Rachelle raced through the restroom and closed the door shut with a bang. After about a minute, she heard the water from the tub open up.

"Amy…?" She heard Rachelle practically scream over the water's intense sound.

"What?" She lay down in Rachelle's bed. She looked at the pile of clothes on the floor. They really should fix that, she thought. She had a clear idea of what Rachelle was about to say.

"I forgot to get my clothes," She said in a hushed voice this time.

"Knew it," Amy muttered to herself, laughing a bit as she searched for something Rachelle might want to wear to impress that boy downstairs. She found a white skirt and a cute indigo shirt that most hopefully matches. She placed them on the counter right beside the towel and closed the door shut again. "They're there," She shouted back.

"Thanks!" She heard the water close and footsteps. She dried herself up, zippered the skirt up and heaved a soft sigh. She came out in approximately 7 minutes and looked at Amy.

"How do I look?" She smiled. Amy gave her two thumbs up and she giggled.

"You are so crushing." She shook her head in amusement.

"Am not…" Rachelle mumbled. Amy raised her one eyebrow at her. "Okay. Fine."

Amy laughed and threw a pillow at Rachelle. She obviously got it, thanks to her killer instincts and threw it back at Amy. Pillow fights. They always did this when they were together at their dorm. The people in the rooms right beside them always got annoyed when they did this. They always expect that the next morning they would end up at the front door of the principal. But they had fun, which was all that they cared about.

"Okay, okay," Amy said, ducking and at the same time, grabbing the clock from Rachelle's bedside table. 5 minutes to 7. "I think we should head down already."

"Ooh. Ms. Party Pooper starts again." Rachelle said sarcastically.

"Yes, she does." She laughed. "Now come on," She signaled Rachelle to hand her the pillow so that she could place it back.

They folded their beds neatly and fixed themselves up, making them look actually presentable for that household. Seeing the way it looked from afar, both of them assumed that they were under rich hands now. They had to at least show that they liked being well-mannered and polite, even if they were really against this type of torture.

"Hey," Alphonse greeted from the bottom of the staircase. He wore the same thing as yesterday, his clothing almost all green. They both wondered if that's all he has in his wardrobe. They let this pass just this moment and greeted him as well. They all headed into the big room which Rachelle assumed was the dining room. Edward was already there, leaning against the wall near the door.

"Nice outfits," He smiled at Rachelle. Rachelle just giggled at Amy. "Please, sit."

They all sat down in the huge table, getting servings of food that were presented. They all tasted like their kind of breakfast, Amy thought. Pancakes and scrambled eggs, Rachelle thought, remembering her mom cooking breakfast when she didn't have work that day. She barely saw her parents… but still. She quickly hid a tear that she felt was coming.

"So," Edward asked, finishing his meal and looking at both Amy and Rachelle. "What brought you two here?"

"We…" Amy looked at Rachelle. "Don't actually know…"

"What she means is that, there was a train coming towards us then suddenly a flash. Then, we ended up here, stranded like two outcasts on an island." She barely touched her scrambled eggs. She never really liked chicken abortions.

"A train then a flash," Alphonse mumbled. He turned his doubtful face to his brother.

"It is kind of weird. I know that," Amy said in an almost whisper. "But we don't really know what happened, and we really want to find a way to get back to our own place…"

"I don't know what that is as well…" Edward mumbled. "But maybe it's alchemy…"

"Alchemy?" Rachelle asked.

"What's that?" Amy asked, looking at Alphonse.

"It's sort of a science. It's real common around here… haven't you ever heard of it?" Alphonse explained.

"No…" She raised an eyebrow at Edward.

"We're not kidding. It's true that it might be a possibility, because of the flash you saw." Edward looked at his brother. "And the circle…" He added in a soft voice.

Amy suddenly looked directly at him. "Wait a second. We never said anything about a circle…" She cast a weird look at him.

"Yea, we didn't." Rachelle said as well.

"Well…" He laughed a bit. "I just assumed…"

"Okay, grab my shoulder." Amy suddenly said, standing up and facing Edward.

"What?" Rachelle and Edward said at the same time.

"You heard me." She folded her arms in front of her chest. "I just want to find something out."

"O…kay," He said, grabbing her left shoulder and pulling her to him. "There."

"Oh. It wasn't you…" She said, getting loose of his grip and sitting down near Rachelle again. Rachelle just cast a funny look, like she was suddenly gonna laugh at her any second.

"I have no idea what you are talking about," Edward laughed. "Maybe you girls would want to go around Xenotime?" He asked, changing the topic completely.

"Uh," Rachelle looked at Amy. Amy just nodded a bit without looking up. "Sure?"

"Perfect," Alphonse stood up and headed out the door. Amy just followed him.

"What was that about?" Alphonse laughed at her.

"Oh, the grip?" She looked up at him. "Nothing… it was just something I felt after the flash…" She held her left shoulder. The mark already disappeared. That was a bummer. She wanted to show Rachelle.

"You sure?" He smirked at her.

"What's that supposed to mean?" She laughed at him.

"Nothing," He smiled while shaking his head. "Come on, let's go." He ushered, once he saw his brother and Rachelle following them to the front door.

"So, where are we headed to first?" Rachelle asked, holding Amy's right hand.

"Here," Edward dug out some stuff from his pocket. He took out 2 pieces of colored paper and handed them to Amy.

"What are these?" She fiddled with the pieces of paper and looked up at him.

"Those are each 100 cenz. That can buy you guys tons of stuff here in Xenotime. Cenz is the currency here." He smiled at her. "Now I suggest we'll meet you back at the house alright?"

"You won't come with us?" Rachelle asked him.

"I have something to finish up." He laughed, turning his back to them. "I hope you guys get back by 7. I heard dinner's delicious later."

Alphonse followed him and waved back at them.

Once they were out of earshot, Amy turned to Rachelle.

"Do you still have anything to buy?" She asked, giving her 1 piece of paper.

"I don't know… What do we need to get?"

"I'm thinking… some stuff we might need? I mean… since we have clothes already, maybe we need towels or some other stuff since we might be staying here longer…"

"You really think we'll be staying here that long?" She looked at Amy.

"I don't know. I mean, these people say that it might be some sort of alchemy." Amy rolled her eyes a bit. "Whatever that is," She added.

"Meet back at the house by 7?" Rachelle was suggesting splitting up.

"Or maybe when the sun sets?" Amy said, pointing to her watch-less wrist.

"Fine," Rachelle smiled and waved a bit before turning her back and running towards god-knows-where, typical for her to do that with a handful of money in her hand.

"Okay, now. Where do I start?" Amy mumbled, looking around at the busy street.

"Russell, why did you tell them you were Edward Elric?" The little brother, his real name Fletcher, looked up at his brother.

Russell held a brown mask and put it over his head. He didn't say anything but hold up a bottle filled with red liquid and handed it to Fletcher.

"Brother?" He asked, covering his own face with a mask after placing down the bottle.

Russell let out a huge sigh and faced his little brother.

"We don't want to blow our cover remember?" He smiled weakly. "And besides, we don't really know them well. They said they arrived here, not knowing about alchemy. That is really impossible. Everyone in Ametris knows a thing or two about alchemy, even if they themselves aren't alchemists."

"That actually is kind of strange…" Fletcher agreed.

"We'll just let them stay here for a while. I just want to find something out," He said, looking out at the setting sun. There was a commotion at the bottom, like something crashed or collapsed at the place where the mini-library is located at.

"W-what was that?" Fletcher asked.

Russell didn't answer. Instead, he headed out the room and decided to take a peep at the library just to make sure. Fletcher followed behind him.

"I got everything," Amy smiled, when she saw Rachelle headed towards her that evening. She carried 2 bags full of things they might need and a couple of stuff for her personal use, seems like 200 cenz could buy them a lot here.

"I got some." Rachelle's disappointed face showed that she didn't enjoy it one bit. "Oh well, why don't we head in?" She took Amy's arm and walked side by side with her. The guards automatically let them in.

"Was it that boring?" Amy asked Rachelle, hiding back a laugh. Rachelle just looked back at her with a straight face.

"O…kay," She laughed. "Maybe it was." Amy agreed.

They both jumped a bit from a sound that came from a room somewhere in their left side.

"Wanna check it out?" Rachelle asked with a laugh in her tone of voice.

"I guess. It's the only fun we've had this day anyways." Amy laughed.


End file.
